The Han scouts found out that Cao Jun had been blocked by Quepo and stopped pursuing, and quickly reported the news to Zhang Fei.

Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, the Han army repaired in the camp for an hour, leaving Lingbao to lead 8,000 elite soldiers to guard the camp, all stationed soldiers and horses under Nanyang City, the energy is still sufficient, morale is not declining, Zhang Fei selected 2,000 strong cavalry, leaving 8,000 horses to Lingbao, unable to stop or have an accident to retreat in time.

Zhang Fei, Feng Xi, Zhao Lei and the rest of the soldiers and horses retreated to Nanyang City, and saw hundreds of people waiting in front of the Han army camp from a distance.

Zhang Fei couldn't help but wonder: "It must be Zhao Rong who got the news and came to greet us!" Cao Jun won a big victory, morale was high, although he had not been killed for the time being, but he was resting for a while, and he would inevitably relieve the siege of Nanyang by raising his spirit. ”

Urging the horse forward, Zhang Fei suddenly saw that the person at the head was nine feet tall, and his face was like a heavy jujube, and his eyes were very piercing in the crowd, and he was shocked: "It's the second brother!" "After a long absence, the feeling of reunion arises spontaneously. Zhang Fei slapped the horse and shouted loudly.

When he got closer, he rolled off his horse and bowed his hand to meet Guan Yu. Guan Yu had already stepped forward quickly to support Zhang Fei, who was holding his fists, and the two brothers joined hands and entered the big tent surrounded by everyone.

After greeting each other, Zhang Feiqi said: "Second brother, the younger brother thought that it would be a few days before he could meet the second brother, but I didn't expect the second brother to arrive in Nanyang with me first!" ”

Guan Yu and Xu Shu looked at each other and said with a smile: "We got rid of Cao Jun at night two days ago, and were discovered by the scouts under Nanyang City and led us to the city!"

However, it was the cavalry who came back, and according to the foot soldiers, it would indeed take a few days to catch back! ”

Zhang Fei said: "Second brother, before the younger brother thought that there was Xingba to resist the main force of the intercepted Cao army, the pressure on the second brother is much less, but it is really powerful to get out of trouble so quickly!" ”

Guan Yu stroked his beard and said: "The forces gathered by the Cao army in Luoyang and Lu Hun were blocked by Guan Ping and Deng Ai, and the troops and horses intercepted in the south were resisted by Gan Ning and Zhao Lei. In addition, he retreated south first, but Cao Ren was extremely vigilant, and it was estimated that Guan Ping and Deng Ai only dragged Cao Jun for a day and a night.

Before the retreat, some fine scouts were arranged along the way to pretend to be hunters to squat on the main road for three days, and when they encountered Cao Jun's pursuit, they took a shortcut to report, and if they didn't, they pretended to be people and returned to Jingzhou on their own.

Knowing that the Cao army was chasing, considering that our army had foot soldiers to drag down the slow movement, and the Cao army had nearly 10,000 cavalry.

In order to prevent being caught up, Yuan Zhi discussed with a certain person, first selected wounded soldiers to retreat on horseback, and lured the main force of Cao's army to chase after him! Cao's cavalry was extremely tenacious and pursued day and night.

Fortunately, Lai Yuanzhi reminded that Cao Jun would inevitably give out all the cavalry to take a certain head, so the whole army marched day and night, all the soldiers tied their legs to the horses, ate and slept almost all on the horses, and finally the horses were tired and paralyzed on the ground before resting! ”

After Guan Yu finished speaking, Xu Shu added: "The infantry and cavalry march separately, and the task of the cavalry is to attract the Cao army and relieve the pressure on the infantry who are lagging behind. In order to mislead Cao's army, half of the soldiers were first allowed to drive all their horses through the villages quickly, and the remaining half were arranged in formation to pass through the infantry.

When the cavalry passed, the sound of horses' hooves was terrifying, the drums were beating in unison, and the people did not know why, so they mostly took refuge.

Then the foot soldiers passed, preaching military discipline to reassure the people, and using gold and silver to buy the people's grain, forage, etc., the people were afraid, and few people sold them.

In fact, whether you can buy it is a trivial matter, the purpose is to let the people see that our army is a foot soldier, where to know the truth or falsehood, when Cao Jun chased after him to inquire about the people, the people must answer that it is a foot rider, and induce it to chase after them along the way.

As soon as he left the village, he got on his horse and galloped away. The 4,000 foot soldiers were handed over to Liao Hua, and in his early years he was a Yellow Turban Thief (the official name for the Yellow Turban Uprising), and the terrain of Yuzhou was very familiar, and he made a military order to bring the foot soldiers back to Jingzhou. ”

Zhang Fei didn't pay attention to others, Guan Yu came back and said with a heart: "Since the second brother and Yuan Zhi are back, Liao Hua has his own plan to get out." What matters at the moment is that we are defeated, the morale of our army has been seriously damaged, the Cao army is unstoppable, and it must be about to chase after us, and cooperate with the Nanyang soldiers and horses to form a flanking attack on us, while the Cao army has not yet merged, quickly return to Jingzhou! ”

As he spoke, the sound of shouting and killing was faintly heard in the distance. Zhang Fei stood up violently and said, "There is a fight, isn't it Xu Huang and they are chasing after him?" ”

General Zhao Rong hurriedly said: "Third general, this is Xiahou Shang who came to call for battle, alas! He said that he was calling for a battle, but he didn't dare to fight, and as soon as our army rushed him, he ran back to the city! I'm going to get rid of this guy at the end! Then he walked out of the tent.

Guan Yu was afraid that Zhao Rong would lose, so he said to Zhao Lei: "Xiahou is not an easy person, and the cavalry of the Cao army is on the side, so it should not be underestimated. Governor Zhao, you go to help General Zhao Rong! Zhao Lei answered.

Xu Shu agreed: "It should be cautious, Xiahou is still breaking the suspicious formation at the siege point of Zhang He, so that our army cannot form a siege posture against Nanyang.

At present, the army can only hold the south and east, Xiahou Shang saw that the strength of our army was weakened, and his own reinforcements arrived on the periphery, and he became bolder, and continued to go out of the city every day to call for battle.

There are still 20,000 soldiers in Nanyangtun of our army, which is far better than the soldiers and horses in the city, and Xiahou Shang only brought more than 1,000 soldiers and horses to the battle, and did not dare to bring more, so as to prevent the city from being robbed.

Its forces do not pose a threat to us, and the challenge is nothing more than to test the reality and see if our army retreats, and delay time to cooperate with the reinforcements to attack! ”

Zhang Fei scolded: "Xiahou Shang has shrunk for a few months and didn't dare to go out of the city, and now someone has the courage to come and challenge, second brother, when the younger brother led the cavalry to rush into battle and hit him off guard, he picked him up!" ”

Guan Yu stopped: "Third brother, don't be impatient. Originally, Xiahou still had a little thin soldiers who didn't have to pay attention, and it was a fool's dream to drag us down, but last night the scouts came to report that a large number of horseshoe prints were found in the northwest direction of Nanyang, and Yuan Zhi deduced that the chasing Cao army followed him to the vicinity of Nanyang, and the trend was slightly delayed, and the strength was at least about 10,000.

The scouts were sent out to search, and according to the report and the location of the main damage of the scouts, it was judged that the cavalry of the Cao army was near the hills southeast of Nanyang, and the specific location could not be grasped!

This cavalry is thoughtful, if our army retreats hard, it will inevitably be pursued, and it will be difficult to get out, and the Cao army in the north is too close to drag it out! I'm prepared, don't worry too much! ”

Zhang Fei said: "That's true, Cao Jun Xu Huang, Cao Xiu and other tens of thousands of soldiers are watching carelessly, and if they continue, they will be besieged by more Cao troops!" ”

Guan Yu sighed: "I have discussed with Yuan Zhi and them, and set up a plan, a plan is at night, this plan is safe, but it is too late, and now I can only use a clear plan!" ”

Xu Shu responded: "Time doesn't wait for me!" ”

Zhang Fei suddenly remembered and asked, "How is Xingba's injury?" ”

Hearing Gan Ning Guan Yu frown, he said: "Xingba has no worries about his life, as for the injury, it depends on the follow-up cultivation!" I have sent someone to send him back to Jingzhou first! ”

Zhang Fei hurriedly said: "Xingba can't stand the bumps!" ”

Guan Yu said: "Third brother, don't worry, I will remove the cane wheels, use a towing bed (which can be understood as a sled car) to pad under the car, and use people to drag Xingba back on the ice, the ice surface is smooth and there are few bumps!" ”

Zhang Feixi said: "Second brother really has a way! ”

Guan Yu said with a sad face: "Alas! The defeat in this battle was due to my miscalculation in dividing my troops, and I failed to personally lead the troops to fight against Xu Huang and Cao Xiu, otherwise I would never have been defeated in this situation! ”

Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to comfort him, Xu Shu spoke first: "Where did the words of the prince come from?" The Central Plains is so vast and there are many cities, how can it rely on the prince alone, no matter how powerful Cao Cao is, he must rely on the generals of the clan such as Cao Ren and Cao Xiu, and Yu Ban, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang and other strong troops to help him fight separately before sweeping the Central Plains.

If the prince wants to rely on his own strength, he will inevitably lack skills, and when he is assisted by the generals, the defeat of Xingba is that the commander of the army is slightly inferior to Xu Huang and Cao Xiu, and he despises Cao Jun and mistakenly hits the scheme. Xingba is not greedy for merit, how can there be such a defeat, this battle Xingba is considered to have learned a lesson, and it is also a warning to all the generals and schools, those who can fight are not good at dominating. ”

Guan Yu nodded silently, indeed, he was also old, and looked up at Zhang Fei, his sideburns were already white. An idea suddenly popped up: I am afraid that the grand vision of reviving the Han dynasty will be difficult to achieve in my lifetime, and who can replace the commander of Jingzhou soldiers and horses after I leave!

After a moment of silence, Guan Yu straightened up and ordered: "Don't talk about this, the generals will obey the order!" They each looked at the soldiers and horses, cleaned up the phalanx, and acted according to the orders of the marquis's generals to prepare to withdraw the camp and return to the south. After saying that, the generals promised to return to the army.

Guan Yu picked up the pen and wrote the general order and said to the guards beside him: "General Lingbao is guarding against Xu Huang and others in the north, you immediately order him to abandon the village and retreat south!" The guards took the order and left.

Zhang Feixi said: "I left 8,000 horses for Lingbao, which can come in handy!" By the way, are the 20,000 pretended cavalry still there? ”

Xu Shu said: "Withdraw first, it's useless, and the remaining 20,000 Jingzhou soldiers and horses in Ganning, the morale is hard to shake, so they are withdrawn together." Only the horses were left, and some were added to the ministries! ”

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "That's good, the rest of the horses are just allocated to my cavalry!" ”

Xu Shu said with a smile: "The three generals are also bold, what combat power does the cavalry have without horses!" ”

Zhang Fei said: "There is no way, if you don't leave the horse to Lingbao, he will easily not be able to retreat, and he will be completely annihilated by Cao Jun's foot cavalry." Our cavalry has been fighting for a long time, and it is difficult to stay, so we can only pick out two thousand strong men to help!

I think the horses will definitely be left in Nanyang, even if the foot soldiers can't ride, and the pack supplies can be used, I guessed well, there are horses again! Guan Yu and Xu Shu laughed.

The shouting outside the camp became louder and louder, and after a while, the voice went far away, and Zhao Rong and Zhao Lei rushed back to report that Xiahou Shang had retreated.

Guan Yu ordered the two to go back quickly to reorganize the army, and an hour later, Zhao Rong, Han Guan, Li Xing and other generals led some soldiers and horses to retreat south.

On the city of Nanyang, Xiahou Shang had already taken precautions and built a lookout several zhang high on the city to monitor the movements of the Han army in time.

The Han army is powerless to destroy, and moving the camp too far back can not form pressure on Nanyang, Xiahou Shang has 6,000 elite soldiers in his hands, and he does not dare to move lightly because of the burden of Nanyang City, and the 6,000 elite soldiers who are far away with the reinforcements will cause great trouble to the Han army!

The Han army cut down several zhang of trees and erected them in the camp to cover the camp, which could not be completely covered, which also made it difficult for the Cao army to monitor, but the surrounding area of the camp was still clear at a glance.

The Han army frequently went back and forth from the camp, and a part of the Han army gathered in front of the camp into a phalanx, lined up the ladder, and Xiahou Shangde reported that he personally climbed the lookout to watch.

After observing for a long time, Xiahou Shang saw the clue, the Han army in the camp went out more and entered less, but the Han army in front of the camp was transferred back and forth, and the number of people was not large, it looked like a siege, but the posture was not like it, and it was useless to rely on this! Xiahou Shang suddenly had doubts in his heart.

Looking closely, smoke rose from the Han military camp, and Xiahou Shang scolded: "The soldiers and horses are out of the camp, who will cook now?" I understand, I want to deceive that there are still soldiers and horses in my camp eating, and after eating, I will attack the city and delay time!

Hum! I expected that the thief army wanted to run away recently, so I went out of the city every day to scold and test! In the end, he couldn't hold on, so he sent wolf smoke to General Yu Ban in the southeast and asked him to lead the cavalry to intercept the thief army.

Leave a thousand men in the city to defend the city, and the rest of the soldiers and horses will gather to fight with me, go and give orders! The men hurriedly agreed to go.

Xiahou Shang turned his head to look at the north and said, "General, Zilie, why haven't you arrived yet?" ”